The Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, the fertilizer producer, confirmed on Monday that it was seeking bids to counter an unsolicited US$38.6 billion offer from BHP Billiton, the Australian mining company.
William Doyle, chief executive of Potash, said in an interview that his company had entered preliminary talks with other companies some time ago in anticipation of a bid from BHP.
“We’re not starting from zero,” Doyle said. “We’ve had a tremendous outflow of people looking to do something with us.”
The announcement of negotiations followed the decision by the directors of Potash to reject the bid from BHP, which values the company at US$130 a share, for a second time.
As was the case when Potash first revealed the bid from BHP last week, Doyle dismissed it as an attempt to exploit a decline in shareholder value that was tied to the recession.
He declined, however, to specify what price could sway the Potash board.
Which companies Potash is in talks with, and what sort of arrangements were being discussed, remained unclear.
Speculation has focused on BHP’s two rivals in the mining community: Rio Tinto, which is also from Australia, and Vale, the Brazilian company that is a leading producer of iron ore. Since China is the world’s largest importer of potash, some analysts also say they believe that a Chinese state-owned company may bid for Potash.
However, Doyle suggested in the interview that a broader range of companies is at least having a look at Potash.
“You should not limit your imagination as to what sectors they are from,” he said.
Vale denied it was one of the companies.
“Rumors about a bid to acquire a fertilizer company or about negotiations with the purpose of making a bid to acquire such company are totally unfounded,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
A spokesman for BHP declined to comment.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS